A TELEPHONE helpline is among the measures county bosses are set to implement as part of their climate change strategy.

Residents across Hampshire will soon have the chance to receive advice by phone and online on the action they can take in their own homes to tackle climate change.

Advice on matters such as energy or insulation is among the support that the Environment Centre will be providing as part of Hampshire County Council’s climate change strategy.

The service is expected to be launched in September and is one of the measures announced by civic chiefs this week.

The news comes as cabinet members at the county council backed the proposed climate change strategy for the next five years.

Other initiatives include the so-called Community Energy Network which will encourage communities across the county to establish their own local low carbon energy projects.

Residents will also have the chance to take part in the Solar Together group-buying scheme.

The news comes as in the climate change strategy, county councillors pledged to become carbon neutral by 2050 and set a target to build resilience to the impacts of a two-degree Celsius rise in temperature.

A detailed action plan is set to be presented to councillors in September.

As the plans were discussed During a virtual cabinet meeting earlier this week, civic chiefs were urged to speed up work.

Talking to cabinet members councillor Martin Tod said: “I welcome that you are talking about this strategy and I welcome that there’s going to be an action plan and I welcome cabinet’s commitment in keeping this project moving but I do think you need more urgency. I think we do need to strengthen the role of scrutiny in terms of how this programme is embedded around the council and we need an urgent time table.”

Council leader Keith Mans said central government has made new grants available to support some climate change initiatives.

He added: “We have already looked into that to see how we can access that fund for various projects to improve the efficiency to housing and public buildings within Hampshire. We are making progress. Climate change can be brought up right across the scrutiny committee.”

As reported, with the climate change strategy civic chiefs intend to reduce waste and increase recycling rates while developing and implementing low carbon solutions to waste collection and disposal.

They also aim to avoid carbon-intensive activities, replace high-carbon energy sources with low-carbon energy ones and use technology to support and deliver the climate change agenda. Cllr Jan Warwick, climate change advisor to the executive, added: “This is a very thorough strategy but we are not complacent. This is just a start. We know that some action is required to meet the challenging target of carbon neutrality by 2050.”

She also stressed that engagement with residents will be “key” to delivering the strategy.